


A Drowning Man Will Clutch At A Straw

by orphan_account



Series: tumblr ficlets [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-20
Updated: 2013-11-20
Packaged: 2018-01-02 03:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1052116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>from this <a href="http://helenish.tumblr.com/post/67442186524/sheriff-stilinski-i-will-pay-you-one-thousand">post</a>, originally <a href="http://pughat.tumblr.com/post/67447256699/helenish-sheriff-stilinski-i-will-pay-you-one">here</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Drowning Man Will Clutch At A Straw

"It’s not what it looks like?" Stiles offers weakly, breath short from where he’s pinned under Derek’s weight, flush high on his cheeks. By the time Derek starts to move — he was going to anyway, should’ve known better than to let Stiles’s "so how good are you reflexes, really?" get to him, but it hit him like a glove slap the way Stiles’s taunts always do, and when he snatched for the papers Stiles pulled them out of reach, grinning like teasing Derek was more important than the alpha they still had to catch — the Sheriff already has a hand in his jacket.

"I sure hope not," the Sheriff says, pulling Derek up and close, away from Stiles, "because it looks like the man I almost arrested for murder is in my 16 year old son’s room."

The sheriff doesn’t say anything else but the implication is clear in his voice and his fingers as they dig into the skin of Derek’s neck, not a threat, or at least not a dangerous one, but firmly the way a parent reprimands, like he’s probably done to Stiles. Derek could easily get away, twist out of the Sheriff’s grip, break his wrist, drop his fangs, but the sudden fear in Stiles’s eyes as he realises it too stops the impulse in it tracks. The house they’re in is lived-in, warm and alive and nothing like Derek’s known for the last six years, the hand on his neck nothing but a warning.

Derek opens his mouth to defend his own honour before deciding there’s nothing he can say to improve the situation, to soothe the embarrassment of Stiles tripping them both, hands clenching in Derek’s shirt to expose his stomach as they crashed to the floor, legs tangled like vines around a support beam.

The Sheriff loosens his grip, says, “How about I give you a ride home, son?” and Derek nods, trying not to look defensive, or think about the last time the Sheriff gave him a ride, the disappointment through the rear view mirror as he mentioned Derek’s mother, how they saw each other in church, sometimes, how proud she always was of her kids.

It’s easy just to go with it, let himself be marched down the stairs, pretend not to notice the look Stiles and his dad share because it has nothing to do with him, really. The drive isnt the most uncomfortable ten minutes of Derek’s life, but the thirty second glimpse he gets of John Stilinski, parent, is more information than Derek can have about a family and still call himself impartial.

He doesnt let it affect him when the Sheriff drops him at the edge of the preserve, doesnt think about what it means for his safety if he gets attached in the three minutes it takes for Stiles’s Jeep to pull up, waving a hand out the window for Derek to get in, comfortably silent as they drive to the hospital.


End file.
